(Augusta, GA) - Paine College is a sound investment. These words resonated throughout the press conference that was held to announce a major grant that was awarded to Paine College in the amount of $1.6 million. Paine College officials joined senior executives from CampusEAI Consortium to announce the award that will impact the living, learning and work environment for the entire campus.

The White House Initiatives on Historically Black Colleges and Universities endorsed CampusEAI in March 2010 and encouraged HBCUs to apply for the competitive CampusEAI technology grants to build and support institutions’ capacity to do business more efficiently.

The CampusEAI Grant Program is designed to cover the cost of software, hardware, and services associated with the implementation of a Campus Portal Solution, an intranet portal that integrates with online learning, administrative computing and student services systems. Under the grant award, project management, installation and training costs necessary to install and operate a Campus Portal will be provided.The CampusEAI grant awarded to Paine College will provide three major distinct services:1) myCampus Single Sign-On Platform will integrate with Paine College’s Microsoft Active Directory and provide students, faculty and staff at Paine member institutions with Single Sign-On access to applications such as Jenzabar, Blackboard, Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Social Media.

2) After Hours Helpdesk Support center will provide coverage from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. each day and night. A faculty, staff, or student will be able to call the helpdesk support number after 6:00 p.m. each day and speak to a live customer service agent designated for Paine College.

Michael Hicks, Director of Information Technology, said, “Today is a historical day at Paine College in the area of technology. We expect our level of technological proficiency to move to a new level of excellence. The Single Sign-On product will give us the ability to eliminate multiple log-ins and accounts, thus promoting efficiency and ease of navigation. And, the 24 hour helpdesk hosted by CampusEAI support staff will provide assistance to our campus community after business hours and on weekends.”

Leroy Summers, Vice President of Fiscal Affairs and Administration, stated that CampusEAI is currently evaluating Paine College for another grant that will offer real time Disaster Recovery in the event of a catastrophic occurrence that will cause destruction of data. When awarded, the Disaster Recovery product, valued at nearly $1 million, will allow the College’s critical data to be housed off-campus in a secured location and accessible within hours.

Brandon Brown, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, stated that Paine College remains a sound investment and it was evident with the College’s ability to garner major competitive grant awards and support from the private, public and the federal level.

CampusEAI Consortium is a global information technology services and consulting provider focused on helping its members implement enterprise IT solutions cost-effectively and timely. More than 260 members belong to the CampusEAI Consortium including Augusta State University, Spelman College, and the University of Arizona. For more information about CampusEAI, visit www.campuseai.org <http://www.campuseai.org/> .

For more information contact Natasha Carter, Director of Communications and Marketing at 706.396.7591 or Ncarter@paine.edu.